Two months after a multitude of environmental activists implored Silicon Valley’s mass transit agency to address the global crisis, the VTA board of directors voted unanimously to declare a climate emergency — a resolution whose chief architect says will “force the board to be more mindful” of the environmental impacts of its actions.

VTA is believed to be the first transit agency in the country to declare a climate emergency, county officials said.

“What it means in real life terms is that as the VTA board makes decisions, it should be making those decisions with climate restoration in mind,” VTA board member and Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese told San José Spotlight in an interview before the board meeting.

“We’re not going to create the perfect laundry list on how to mitigate carbon emissions tonight,” continued Cortese, the resolution’s champion on the board. “The important thing is for us to be asking those questions every time, so we know that we’re doing everything we can do to restore our climate with every decision that we make.”

Tonight, the Board adopted a resolution declaring a climate emergency, building on VTA’s existing commitment and progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, directing specific actions to help achieve that goal, and supporting legislative efforts that aim to avert climate change.

To that end, the resolution says VTA “staff will evaluate administrative procedures to incorporate the consideration of climate change impacts for all relevant proposed policies, programs or actions approved by the board of directors.”

But more proactively, the resolution also obligates the board to “identify specific metrics, including objectives and targets, to prioritize opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a climate action plan to guide its climate emergency response.”

Transit activist and San Jose State University student Monica Mallon praised the board for adopting the resolution. But to have a real impact, she said, the board will have to establish goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and take concrete steps to meet those benchmarks.

“The VTA will be the first transit agency to declare a climate change emergency,” Mallon said. “There is an opportunity for leadership — the board could set an example for other agencies — but that will only happen if they follow through.”

Tonight, VTA became the first transit agency ever to declare a Climate Restoration Emergency. Thank you the VTA Board who unanimously approved my referral which builds on VTA’s existing commitment to combating… https://t.co/11FNK0OGkc

Only time will tell whether VTA board members take their commitment to address climate change seriously enough to move the needle. But for now, Mallon says the declaration by itself is a huge win for the dozens of activists — including many students — who asked the board to adopt the resolution at its final meeting of 2019.

“This is an important step, because it is the first time since I started coming to meetings in 2018 that the VTA board voted on an action item that was suggested by the public,” Mallon told San José Spotlight. “So it is a huge step forward in terms of listening to people and responding to what they want.”

But going forward, activists and board members agree that setting a timeline to replace the VTA’s diesel-hybrid bus fleet with all-electric vehicles must be at the heart of any climate action plan the board eventually adopts.

VTA just became the first transit agency to declare a climate emergency. Thank you to everyone who spoke and to Supervisor @DaveCortese for the referral! Hopefully, this resolution will lead to real change. pic.twitter.com/okep47DwHv

The agency already runs five all-electric buses in its fleet of 466 vehicles. But because the electric vehicles have a range of about 200 miles and require eight hours to charge — which can only be done at one of the VTA’s depots — they are relegated to the agency’s shortest routes. For those reasons, activists and board members agree the current technology is insufficient to cover the 1,304 square-miles in the VTA’s service area.

California’s Air Resources Board set a goal two years ago for transit agencies across the state to convert their entire bus fleets to zero-carbon-emission vehicles by 2040.

Cortese, who said a green fleet would be a “top priority” for the board’s action plan, also cautioned that the VTA can’t rely on innovation to solve climate change because technology has not kept pace with the escalating crisis. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says humans must reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by 45% in the next ten years or the catastrophic effects of climate change will become inevitable.

Despite the urgent timeline and current technological limitations, Cortese said it would be foolish for the board not to tap into the abundant resources of Silicon Valley’s tech sector to address the issue.

“We can’t innovate our way out of this, but no one is better positioned to make innovation a key feature of our approach to climate restoration,” Cortese said. “We have to challenge ourselves that way as a board.”

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Comments (23)

Patrick FerraroFeb 07, 2020 at 12:54PM

Increasing commuter ridership in Santa Clara County is essential to reducing our GHG emissions. VTA’s declaration of a climate emergency is appropriate and sets a good example for the rest of the State and nationwide transit agencies. Next our activists need to have declarations of a climate emergency by Valley Water and all the water agencies that pump, and treat and heat water resources locally and throughout the State.

Wow. This will help me get to my destination faster. Will do away with the non-disabled and non Seniors parking their bikes and strollers across the seats for the disabled and Seniors. will stop the filth and spilled food and drink on the light rail and bus seats.

How about this, everyone who wants to ride a slow, roundabout, sparse light rail can. Or you want to walk, or boycott fossil fuels, great. Perhaps to can stiffle demand enough to make it cheaper for us sane ones.

They should stop putting out these outlandish statements and focus on implementation. They keep slipping on most of their big projects all of which will reduce car use. They come up with some buzz words like these when ever they have an agenda. People will stop paying attention to their statements unless they regain the their trust.

Transit activist Monica Mallon, whom I love, should concentrate on getting the rail corridors and bus lines back and working. VTA’s cancellation in certain spots has caused us to drive everywhere now.

Why walk from home to a bus stop, wait for the bus, ride the bus, walk from the bus to the light rail, wait, transfer to a different light rail line and then walk to our destination when all we have to do now is jump into our multiple waiting vehicles and drive straight to our location? Thanks, VTA. Thanks to your decision to cut bus and light rail services we now realize we have been doing it all wrong for years.

I am. I have been advocating for a Measure B reallocation to restore bus routes and improve bus and light rail frequency for almost a year. I depend on transit to get around, so the cuts have severely impacted me. I have spent about 90% of my free time advocating for the reallocation to get the routes back for the past six months. I have done this while going to school full-time and working two jobs. I spent very little time advocating for the climate emergency, but it is still an important step because it shows that VTA is taking the climate crisis seriously. Now they have to back up their declaration with real action, which is something that I will continue to advocate for until things change at VTA.

I love you, Monica Mallon! You don’t know me, but I see you as the real deal!

Where I disagree with you and others is when you advocate for tax money meant for certain purposes is diverted away from those areas.

What if you and we meet voted to have taxpayer funds go to VTA, but after it has passed, others advocated for some of those funds be diverted from VTA to schools? How would you feel? Duped? Would you look at future taxpayer funded Measures a bit more skeptically and vote no on them? That’s where taxpayers are now.

So hypocritical. Let’s have our VTA buses drive around 5% full all day long burning fossil fuel. Let’s build a bus express lane that is empty 11 of every 12 minutes, while hundreds of cars sit idle in traffic caused by the bus express lane.

Yep its Climate..lol . Ya better have a look at the policies ?? high crime releasing dangerous individuals 100% repeat offending with arrest and release not working ,,, , the roads, the thrash, the griffiti, homeless now coming in from all over that sure as h…l not helping the CLIMATE here ….thats not lol thats the truth . Take care of that first

Idiots! They knowingly keep prompting this stupid Climate change nonsense! Follow the money and the control of citizens lives like Communist China! Wasting time and money on it which can be used to help the homeless! ????????????

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